Chapter 10 – Day 5, Part 1: Second Wind

Chapter 10 – Day 5, Part 1: Second Wind

Waking up the next morning was like being punched in the face.

Not only because I didn’t get that much sleep, but also because I couldn’t deny that yesterday happened. Everytime I’d close my eyes I would have nightmares of killer cubes and sea serpent Arcanines. When I woke up, I was drenched in the water that managed to drip out of my mouth. And yet, I still had dry lips. Miserable.

Fenn didn’t seem to be faring much better. I sat up to see him lying upright, his eyes bloodshot and staring off into space. He didn’t notice me watching him—or maybe he didn’t care. There was nothing I could think to say, and telling him to get ready for work seemed like a jerk move.

In all honesty, my motivation was shot most likely just as much as his was. Yesterday’s mission put me in such a pessimistic mindset to the point that I genuinely started to have serious doubts.

I had promised myself more than anyone else that today would go better. But after staring at Fenn’s gloomy state for a bit, I wondered if it would be worth it at all. I mean, yesterday went so horribly because both Fenn and I had terrible judgement. Everything that could’ve gone wrong did go wrong. Could we have prevented it? Probably. But how much input did I really have?

Fenn sighed despondently and kept his eyes on the floor. “What am I doing…?” he mumbled, barely audible.

I sat there and kept watching him for some time. Who was really at fault for us failing so badly? Could it have been…Fenn? He certainly was the one to choose the job in the first place. I agreed to go along with it, but Fenn understood his limits—he had to. He wouldn’t have picked it if he didn’t.

But deep down I knew that wasn’t true. Fenn clearly had no idea what he was doing in Mago Canyon. It was so obvious that I was surprised that I didn’t step in and just use the escape orb as soon as I could.

Actually, it didn’t surprise me. That was the part of this whole disaster that I could take the blame for; I’m terrible with confrontation. We could be at the lowest point possible and it could be Fenn’s fault entirely and I still wouldn’t be able to find it in me to tell him off. I just…don’t have it in me.

I frowned. My mind was in a dark place, and the longer I spent ruminating on all of this nonsense, the more often I blamed Fenn for doing us wrong. Picking a job we weren’t ready for, wasting our money, persisting despite every sign telling us otherwise, getting himself hurt for the sake of his pride…maybe Anemone was right…?

…

…No.

No, I refused to accept that. Fenn is a lot of things, but he is not a liability. It was just one bad day. We could learn from this, I’ll make sure of it. I was positive that this was more common than either of us were giving it credit for.

Mission two would go better, it had to. For Fenn’s sake…and mine.

I stood up. “Fenn,” I said, trying to appear determined. He looked at me, his eyes full of sadness. “We have to keep going.”

He looked back down and shook his head. “Can’t,” he whispered. “Can’t do it…just can’t…”

I shuffled next to him on his bed and gently caressed his shoulders. “Fenn…we can’t give up…please…”

He avoided my eyes. “Just forget about me, Oswald…leave me to rot. I’m…I’m not an explorer and I never will be…”

“You know that’s not true.” My voice was low and raspy. “It was one bad day…don’t let it get you down.”

The Quilava blinked slowly, still refusing to meet my gaze. “Why do you care?” he whispered. “I’m not worth it…I’m just a failure…”

“Because…”

Because you were my first choice. I didn’t have to pick you, but I did. I have my misgivings about your judgement as an explorer, and you’re not great at recognizing your own limits. I’m not particularly skilled myself; I’m about as much of a failure as you are, but we’re already this far in. I put my trust in you…because I saw myself in you…somehow. You obviously have some issues, but…so do I. I want to solve our problems together, even if that means we have to fail every once and awhile.

I didn’t say any of that. Truthfully, I didn’t have the guts to, nor the eloquence. The words caught in my throat and I waited too long, undoubtedly making Fenn feel worse. But I had to say something uplifting, regardless of what it was. Sighing wearily, I said my piece.

“Because…you are amazing in every conceivable way.”

Fenn’s ears perked up at what I had just said. He remained silent.

“I-I know everything went wrong, but…I’m okay with that. You might not be…- maybe you were expecting to be great at this right from the start…but that’s also why I want to stick with you.”

His eyes gradually met mine, sparkling with a shine I was too distracted to notice.

“Give me one more chance…one more mission. Please…I don’t want to give up on you because of one failure. We can do this…we just have to work together.

“So…cheer up…for me?” I smiled awkwardly.

The Quilava stared at me for some time. Neither of us moved. Eventually, I let go of his shoulders and rubbed the back of my head. I really said that? God…what was I thinking? I must’ve sounded stupid. Good going, Oswald.

“O-okay.”

My eyes went wide and I swung my head around to face Fenn. I stammered, “wha…what was that?”

Fenn smiled sincerely. “I said okay,” he replied quietly. “One more mission.”

Wait…that worked? My mouth slowly curled into a large grin. “Heh…yeah…one more.”

---

Why did I try so hard to make Fenn feel better? I wasn’t quite sure. Something came over me and I finally said what I was thinking. Or at least…I tried. It didn’t really come out as I wanted. Maybe it was because I really did believe in him? I’ve only known the guy for, what, three days? We were friends. Would I have done the same with any other pokemon?

I am a pokemon now. Are pokemon just more emotional creatures or have I always been like this? The line was starting to blur; I don’t know if I would have put so much faith in Fenn if I was still a human.

These supposed “instincts” were getting to my head regardless. I started craving pool visits ever since I woke up yesterday. I considered hunting down some of the pokemon passing by us and eating them. Which was…concerning, but…hey, it wasn’t my fault. Still…I should really go swimming today…

I shook my head and smacked my skull. No, stop! I’m a human! I’m just stuck in a Dewott’s body! Swimming is for the weak! I don’t eat pokemon!

Fenn gave me a perplexed look while he scanned the bulletin board. We had been standing around, reading job postings, for a good amount of time. Fenn stared at the board in contemplative silence, seemingly dissatisfied with what they had available. Even at his lowest point, Fenn still insisted on being picky.

I guess I should have known this would happen. He appeared to be feeling better now—enough to get out of bed at least—but I still caught him cursing at himself from time to time. He was an idealist at heart, which was why I was there.

At some point, I got impatient and tried picking jobs at random on account of my lack of reading skills. Fenn would tell me each time that they weren’t worth doing. Even when I insisted that we check on the skill level of the dungeon, Fenn would turn it down, regardless of what it was. “Not worth the low reward,” he would say. “Too easy,” he would tell me.

The Quilava soon groaned in frustration after a while. “Ugh! None of these are any good!”

I crossed my arms, also frustrated to some extent. “I’m certain there are plenty of worthwhile jobs we can pick,” I said. “Just, you know, lower your expectations some.”

The fire type facepalmed. “I-I already went through every posting three times already!” he exclaimed.

“Ahem. Are you two done yet?” a gruff sounding Granbull said from behind us. “Some of us need to work too.”

I sighed. “Alright, here.” I peeled off one of the postings from earlier that I remembered was supposed to be one of the easier ones. “This one.” I handed it to Fenn. “What does it say?”

“Uh…r-rescue Phanpy at Grepa Lake.”

“Grepa Lake was ‘D’ rank, right?”

“Um.” He flipped through the dungeon guide until he found what he was looking for. “Yeah.”

“Then let’s do it.”

“B-but,” Fenn stammered, “Grepa Lake is full of water types.”

I guess the name “Grepa Lake” didn’t register with me at first. If we took this job then both Fenn and I would be both at a disadvantage. Even with the low ranking, we’d be sending ourselves into a dungeon with pokemon we couldn’t outright beat easily.

It would be a repeat of last time.

But then I noticed the Granbull eyeing me and lost my nerve. Too bad, we were just going to have to deal with it.

“It can’t be that bad, right?” I said nervously. “A fish on fire still burns. As long as we work together…we can handle it.” I winked. I’m gonna get us killed, aren’t I? Fenn and I really are made for each other…

Fenn grimaced, his eyes clearly portraying his concern. He didn’t want to fail just as much as me. I really was putting a lot of stake in one really problematic job, but-

The Granbull was crossing his arms and tapping his foot, clearly annoyed.

-we didn’t really have a choice. God, why do I have to be such a wimp?

“O-okay.” Fenn sighed. “If you think we can do it…then I trust you.”

That’s reassuring. I don’t even trust myself. “Great.” I nodded. “Then let’s head out for Grepa Lake.”

Fenn stopped me again. “What about items?” he asked. “W-we don’t have a whole lot of money…”

Thinking back on yesterday, we only used a few kinds of items. Grepa Lake should be easier and shorter than Mago Canyon, so we should only bring the bare essentials. Thankfully, I remembered that one of those bare essentials was something I eat everyday.

I replied, “we can just drop by the cafeteria and take some berries with us. I’m sure they won’t mind.”

Smacking his head, Fenn balked. “W-why didn’t I think of that? Let’s go!”

---

Fenn and I stopped by the cafeteria to eat our breakfast and take some berries with us. I was curious why this wasn’t a more well known thing so I asked Skua if taking food from the cafeteria out on missions without paying was allowed.

He said, “you know, I hear they sell Oran berries in town. The townsfolk have to pay 50 poké a pop, but the guild members get them for free. Most jobs don’t pay as well as dungeon crawling either. Strange how that works, huh?”

He winked at me. We were in the clear.

With a bag full of berries of varying types, enough to feed the two of us for a week straight, we made our way out of Kebia Castle.

Before we were able to leave, however, Ipo called us over to talk.

“You two,” the Simipour said. “Come here, I have something I need you for.”

Fenn and I exchanged glances and approached the front counter. Lace wasn’t there for some reason.

“What’s up?” I inquired.

“Have you two run into Team Phlox lately?” asked Ipo.

“No, I haven’t,” I replied. “Have you, Fenn?” Fenn shook his head.

Ipo scratched his chin and grimaced. “Damn. This is really starting to get on my nerves…”

Fenn and I stood there as Ipo rummaged through some paperwork, found a specific document, then rubbed one of his temples as he read it. After a few more seconds, he placed the document on the counter and faced me.

“Alright. Oswald?”

I nodded.

“You were here when Team Phlox brought in that Persian, right? Please tell me Crocus wasn’t being obtuse again.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

Ipo frantically scribbled on the document as he talked. “That’s great. Fantastic even. That means, by process of elimination, you get the reward for his bounty.”

“Um.”

He dropped a sack full of coins on the counter. “Accounting for the guild tax and the late fees, your reward for bringing in Moa the Persian is 1050 poké. Please sign here.” Ipo reached over the counter and handed me the document and a writing utensil.

Unsure what to even think at this point, I scribbled a few lines on the paper and handed it back to him.

“Great, great. That should free up my backlog a bit.” The desk clerk waved us away after a moment of silence. “You can leave now. Shoo.”

Fenn and I left Kebia Castle then, 1050 poké richer and one more successful mission on our resume.

I was still processing what had just happened, while Fenn was more than happy to be that much richer. “Over a thousand poké for just being there!” He beamed. “Oswald, we made our money back! I can’t believe it!”

I smiled at how relieved Fenn was. Taking the reward for someone else’s work wasn’t exactly how I wanted to earn my pay, but seeing Fenn happy made me happy. If Team Phlox wanted the money so bad, then they should have taken it when they had the chance.

Meanwhile…

---

Oo-oO

Dahlia had made the conscious decision to sleep in today. Team Phlox’s recent work had been going well; no mishaps or issues when it came to collecting bounties. She was certain that there were no notable bits of gossip in the past day, so she saw no reason to meet with Stork.

Naturally, she saw this as a perfect opportunity to get some much needed beauty sleep. Perched on her favorite branch, its stem decorated in shiny jewels, Dahlia closed her eyes, content with her place in the world.

At this point, the only thing that could’ve ruin this moment would’ve been-

“PINK! WHERE ARE YOU!”

That. Yep. There it is.

Dahlia opened her eyes and blinked the grogginess out just in time to see Holly storm into their room, clearly furious.

Pink, who had also chosen to sleep in, was just waking up from her slumber on her bed across the room. “Huh? Wha…” she mumbled, barely awake.

Holly wasted no time grabbing Pink by the scruff of her neck and tossing her out of her bed. “Get up, you lazy bum!” Holly ordered. “You’ve got some explaining to do!”

The Monferno hardly seemed to care about being tossed around and, as such, curled up on the floor, her eyes not completely open. “What’s this about, huh? I get one day a week to sleep in and you ruin it…”

Pink began to snore…

FWOOSH!

Holly breathed fire directly in her face.

That woke her up. Pink jumped off the ground in surprise and frantically put out the fire on her face. “OW OW OW OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?”

The Houndoom glared at Pink. “Where’s the money?”

“What money?”

“THE MONEY FOR OUR LAST TWELVE BOUNTIES! THE MONEY I PUT YOU IN CHARGE OF!”

Dahlia, now completely awake after all of the screaming, fluttered through the air and landed on Holly’s horn. “What’s going on?” she wondered.

Pink ignored her. “I don’t have the money.”

“Then where is it?” fumed Holly.

The Murkrow was also curious where their earnings were. “Yeah, Pink; what did you do with our money?”

She sat there for a moment, looking away and biting her lip, before conceding and telling the truth. “I forgot to turn them in,” Pink said.

“YOU WHAT?”

Dahlia frowned. “That’s almost worse than spending it without telling us.”

“I know, I’m sorry!” Pink threw up her arms in defense. “I just got so busy and I couldn’t find the time and- and…come on, Holly,” she whined. “It’s not that big a deal-“

Holly interrupted her. “Cut it with the excuses! I had our expenses tallied out for the whole MONTH and you ruined it!”

Pink groveled in front of the Houndoom. “I’m sorry! I’ll make it up to you! I promise!”

“We may as well go turn in our bounties properly and take what they’ll give us,” the Murkrow chirped.

Holly growled. “And you’re not getting any of it, Pink.”

“Wha…what?” the Monferno pouted. “B-but, Holly! I was gonna ask out that cute Charmeleon and take her out to Altaria’s!”

“I don’t care!” Holly shouted. “You should consider the rest of us the next time you get careless.”

Pink whimpered pitifully, but had no retort.

“The front desk,” Dahlia said. “Let’s go.”

---

Team Phlox left their room on the fifth floor and walked down to the front lobby. Ipo, engrossed in his work, didn’t see them coming. He also didn’t see Pink coming as she leaned over the desk, grabbed him by shoulders, and brought him down to her level.

“Alright, monkey-boy,” she snarled, “where’s the cash?” Ipo stared at her wide eyed, clearly taken off guard.

“Put him down, Pink,” Holly deadpanned. “You don’t get to interrogate this guy.”

The Monferno promptly did so, only a little angry. Ipo blinked as he fell back onto the ground.

“Oh, it’s you,” the Simipour said, standing up and dusting himself off. “About time you decided to show up.”

Dahlia clacked her beak atop Holly’s horn. “Sorry about that. Someone on our team wasn’t doing her job.” The Murkrow glared daggers at Pink, who chose to cross her arms, look away, and scowl.

“How much do you owe us, Ipo?” Holly asked impatiently.

Ipo rummaged through some documents and scribbled a few things down. “Lucky for you, I’ve been waiting for you three for longer than I reasonably should have.” He slid a piece of paper across the counter for Holly to read. “Be thankful there’s no penalty cap. The fact that you only do bounty work kept me in limbo for way too long.” He rubbed his temples. “Like seriously, ten days? Give me a break.”

Holly scanned the document for a moment before she spoke up. “Hold on. I’ve been keeping track and I know for a fact that we’ve done twelve jobs since I told Pink to take care of turning our bounties in. I only see eleven here.”

“Well, you see,” Ipo started, “when you put me in a position where I can’t get rid of paperwork the guild needs to keep track of things, I get restless and stretch the rules a little.”

“Where is it, Ipo?” Smoke puffed from Holly’s nostrils.

“That Persian you brought in, Moa, in case you forgot, was technically caught by you three…and one other pokemon.”

Dahlia immediately knew what he was talking about. “Wait…Oswald?” she interjected.

“Yep. That one.”

Pink reached over the counter and grabbed Ipo again. “YOU GAVE OUR MONEY TO SOME RANDO?”

“Stop,” Holly demanded sternly. Pink had no choice but to back down; meanwhile, Ipo hardly seemed phased.

She looked at him, a serious glint in her eye. “Give us the room number for this guy and we’ll settle this.” She narrowed her eyes right then. “Professionally.”

Ipo wrote something down on a small piece of paper and handed it to her. “You actually just missed him,” he said. “His team should be back by tonight. Please don’t let this happen again for Arceus’ sake.”

Dahlia read the note over Holly’s snout. “Team Lavender, third floor, room 15, east wing,” she read to herself.

He’s got his own room? Dahlia thought. How did that happen? It took us months to get our own place.

Pink shadow-boxed the air. “Oooh I’m gonna beat this bastard. He’s gonna get what’s coming to him. Serves him right for thinking he can take our poké.”

“I’m going to the training grounds,” Holly stated, turning to leave. “Pink, go take our poké back to the room.” She narrowed her eyes at the Monferno. “Lose it and you sleep on the floor, got it?”

“U-uh…aye-aye captain!” She saluted and left to secure their earnings.

The Houndoom turned to face Dahlia after she fluttered to the ground. “We’ll meet later and confront that Dewott. Don’t be late.”

Dahlia tipped her hat as Holly walked to the courtyard.

Now alone, standing on the floor, Dahlia pondered on the sudden shift her day had taken. I guess I’ll get to see Oswald again after all. Maybe I’ll finally figure out what his deal is.

She was itching to find out, but for now, she had to find something to keep herself busy. I wonder if Marigold is around…

---

Oo-oO

“Hey, Fenn, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Do you eat meat?”

Fenn was clearly taken aback by the question. I had never actually seen him eat meat, but I assumed that he had to at some point. While we walked on the dirt road to Grepa Lake, I waited for Fenn to answer me.

“Um…I-I haven’t in a while,” he said. “My dad used to make me eat it to ‘make me stronger.'” Fenn grimaced. “I-I didn’t really like it much. I honestly prefer berries.”

Again with his dad, I thought. Everytime I hear about this guy, the less I like him. To me, a human, a pokemon forcing another pokemon to eat one of their own kind—even if they were technically wild animals—just seemed unreasonably cruel to me. It honestly bothered me how nonchalant Fenn was with killing ferals. I mean, sure, I’ve killed some too, but Fenn almost treated it like a game at times. And eating them after? I can’t be alone on this.

“So you just…don’t like it?” I asked. “Is that it? You don’t see any other issues with it?”

“No? Why should I?”

“You’re eating other pokemon!” I exclaimed. “How do you not see the problem with that?”

Fenn frowned. “It’s…never bugged me before. They’re ferals. They kill and eat each other all the time.”

“That…hm.” I stroked my chin in contemplation. Somehow, I…never considered that. Given the chance, any of those wild pokemon we killed might have eaten us if we weren’t able to beat them first. That’s what would happen with other ferals when they get killed in the wild, I was pretty sure. Still, something about eating a creature of my own species didn’t sit well with me.

“You’ve never…you know, eaten a civil pokemon before, have you?”

His quills ignited in shock and his eyes went wide. “N-no! Of course not! Civil pokemon don’t eat other civil pokemon!”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “How do you know that?”

“What…I…” Fenn picked up his pace. “C-can we please not talk about this anymore?”

I left it at that. I probably shouldn’t have taken it that far. Fenn isn’t a bad guy. He’d never eat another civil pokemon willingly. I’m still against eating pokemon in general, though. Especially other water types.

I shook my head. That’s enough of that. We have a job to do.

According to the map, Grepa Lake was situated between the Durin Mountains to the north of Kebia. That was what Fenn told me. He also told me that Grepa Lake was one of those “picky entrance” dungeons. We had to walk to the end of the dock and jump in.

I still didn’t understand how these places could get so specific with what they wanted. Were they alive? Having to walk to the end of the dock didn’t sound random.

It knows. It has to.

Fenn and I breached a clearing in the trees. Far off in the distance, enormous mountains tipped in white loomed over us. Further down the mountain range and closer to our location, pine trees lined the shoreline of the lake that we had just found. That was the assumption. However, it was actually hard to tell, what with all of the fog rising from the water.

Much like Mago Canyon, Grepa Lake was enshrouded in a deep dark fog. Purple swirls drifted in and out of the smog, giving the sight a ghostly appearance.

“Okay,” Fenn whispered next to me. “W-we’re looking for a Phanpy named Kiwi. The dungeon is six floors.”

I nodded. “Just water types, right?”

“I think so.”

I stared at the fog lingering over the water. I couldn’t see past it, nor could I see the water under it, implying that there was any water left at all. As such, I started to wonder what this dungeon could’ve been like. The lesson learned from Mago Canyon was to not judge outward appearances. Grepa Lake was a lake, but was it really?

“We won’t drown in there, will we?” I asked. “I-I mean, you won’t? I can breathe underwater. Yep.” Nice save, idiot.

Fenn sent me a funny look before pulling out the dungeon guide. “I’m sure it would’ve specified that. I don’t see any warnings about drowning.”

“Alright.” I sighed. “Okay, Kiwi isn’t gonna save herself. Grepa Lake, here we come.”

We walked about the lake’s outskirts until we found the dock. The fog parted to create a sort of fog corridor with the wooden planks as the base. Strangely, The wood didn’t even creek as we walked across it. And when the pier ended and the two of us looked down to see a swirling whirlpool of dark, purple water, once again, I strained my ears for whatever sounds I’d hear this time.

My heart sank when I could’ve sworn I heard voices. Noncoherent and barely audible, but I was certain there was someone speaking.

“Are you okay, Oswald?”

I blinked, and I turned to see Fenn looking at me, on two legs, with concern in his eyes. “H-huh?” I stuttered.

“…You’re trembling,” he murmured.

My paws were trembling. I hadn’t noticed, but I had been shaking ever since we stepped onto the pier. It didn’t matter how confident or nonchalant I had been earlier, I was still thoroughly terrified of mystery dungeons.

“N-no,” I stammered, “I’m not okay. I’m really scared that everything will go wrong and…I’m so sorry, Fenn. I’m terrible at this…”

My Quilava partner held out a paw and smiled. “If…if it makes you feel any better…I-I’m kinda scared too…just in a different way. Heh.”

Fenn’s honest attempt at a pep talk made me chuckle. I was still scared, but at least I had Fenn with me. I wasn’t not doing this alone, thankfully. “Heh…I guess so, Fenn. L-let’s get in there and suck really badly.”

“Yeah!” he exclaimed. “It’s gonna be the worst!”

Laughing to calm my nerves, I grabbed Fenn’s paw and we leaped into the whirlpool together. All encompassing darkness followed quickly. Those voices I had heard were now louder, and more obnoxious.

I couldn’t make out most of it, but I could make out one thing. One word.

“Oswald…”